


Just the Four of Us

by PoH



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Friends, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Kingdom Hearts I, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-09 19:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 10,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11675859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoH/pseuds/PoH
Summary: "Besides Kairi and Riku, there was one other girl I was friends with.  The four of us played together all the time!"This is a mixture of drabbles and short stories set in an alternate universe, about the misadventures of Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé while growing up on Destiny Islands.





	1. The First Battle

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [50 Theme Challenge](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/312837) by Wishing-Fire. 



> Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
> 
> Regarding the inspiration: Years ago, I found a 50-themed challenge and planned to take it. But as time went by, the story evolved into something else entirely. So, some of these chapters will be extremely short, but others will be much longer. I'm using some prompts from that challenge, some that a friend gave me, and others that I made up myself. I just wanted to give credit where credit was due.
> 
> If you have any word prompts or ideas you'd like me to try, please feel free to leave a suggestion! :)

The day that Riku met Sora began in tragedy.

That was how Riku viewed things when he realized that he misplaced his favorite toy sword.  He'd gone to the playground with his mother and kept it by his side all morning.  Then she called him over to the picnic tables for lunch, and when he returned to the sandbox, it was gone.  At least, Riku thought he'd left it at the sandbox.  It wasn't anywhere among the plastic buckets and shovels, nor in the grass nearby.

Then he thought he saw it…in the hands of another boy. His face flushed. How _dare_ that kid steal his sword? Didn’t he know that only the bravest of warriors could wield such a powerful weapon?

So, naturally, he decided to run across the playground and clobber the spiky-haired thief. Only, things didn’t go according to plan. After Riku left the boy crying on the ground, he noticed the name carved into the wooden blade: “Sora.”

“Oops.”

To his surprise, Sora cheered up right away and offered to help him find his missing sword, “and then we can have a rematch!” And even though they had just met, Riku could tell that they were going to be best friends.


	2. The Girl With the Sketchbook, Part 1

Grown-ups often described a wedding as one of the happiest days in a person’s life. Sora didn’t see the appeal. His aunt wanted to get married on the beach, which should have been great, but his parents would not let him play in the sand or the ocean. “You’ll ruin your new suit,” his mother explained.

And after the ceremony ended, they had to stand around getting pictures taken. The lady in charge of the photography seemed nice, but she kept taking the same shots over and over and _over_ again. “Mommy!” Sora moaned, tugging at her arm, “ _Please_ can I go play?”

“For the last time, _no_. When she’s done taking pictures of the whole family, I still want you to stand with us.”

“Whhhhyyyyyy?”

“So you don’t get sand all over your nice clothes.”

Sora pouted. “I _hate_ nice clothes.” It didn’t help that there weren’t any other children his age at the wedding. His mother was the first in her family to marry, so he had no other cousins yet. Those on the groom’s side were either too old or too young to take any interest in him. But as he stood still and pretended to smile at the camera for the millionth time, something caught his eye. A little girl sat near the photography equipment. She held a sketchbook and crayons in her lap. He couldn’t see what kind of picture she drew, but her hands moved fast across the page and she wasn’t paying attention to anything else.

As soon as the photographer finished the group shots, Sora moved away from his parents and ran over to the girl. “Hi!” he greeted her, “I’m Sora! What’s your name?”

The girl jumped and spilled her crayons. He leaned over to see what she’d drawn, but she pressed the sketchbook against her white dress, away from him. Then she stared at him with wide blue eyes. Sora waited for her to say something. When she didn’t, he tried again. “HI!” he said louder- just in case she couldn’t hear very well, “MY NAME'S SORA! What’s your name? Wanna play with me?”

She still didn’t respond.

“Whatcha drawing? Can I color with you?”

Nothing.

“Okay, we don’t have to do that. What games do you like to play?”

The girl hugged her sketchbook tighter and looked at the ground.

Sora tilted his head. “What’s the matter? Don’t you know how to talk?”

She continued to stare at the ground without nodding or shaking her head.

“That’s okay! I can talk for both of us! If you don’t wanna color…” Sora glanced around and found a big stick lying in the sand. “…I know! When I play with Riku- he’s my best friend- we like to have sword fights! Here, this’ll be my sword! We’ll have to find another one for you.” He lifted the stick high in the air. “Oh! I have a GREAT idea! We can pretend that your coloring book is your shield! YAH! Take THAT!” He waved it around and pretended to jab at the sketchbook with his new toy.

Finally, the girl opened her mouth. “MOMMY!” she screamed, tearing across the sand to the head photographer.

“What? What’d I do?” Sora protested, chasing after her, “What’d I do? Come back! I just wanna be your friend!”


	3. The Girl With the Sketchbook, Part 2

“…so her mommy was the one taking all the pictures of everybody, and she said it would be okay if we played together, but that girl wouldn’t do it! She wouldn’t talk to me or look at me or do anything!” The day after Sora’s aunt’s wedding, he went right to the playground to describe the strange girl to Riku. “I dunno why she didn’t like me,” he said, kicking at the dirt around the slide.

Riku pondered the matter. “Maybe she was just shy.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means she’s afraid to talk to people. So she didn’t wanna talk to you ‘cause she was scared of you.”

“But I wasn’t acting scary!” protested Sora, “I just wanted to play with her!”

Riku shrugged. “Maybe you just gotta try again. What was her name?”

“Um…” Sora frowned. “Na…Na…mi…Nami…I forget. Her mommy said it but I don’t remember.”

Putting the matter aside for the time being, the two of them went back to exploring the playground with their swords in hand. And as it happened, while they were running past the swings, Sora spotted a familiar figure clutching her sketchbook. “HEY!” he shouted, “Riku, LOOK! There’s that girl I told you about!”

His shouts startled the girl. When she laid eyes on him, she dropped her sketchbook and tore off running again, this time screaming, “DADDY!”

“She said a new word this time,” Sora observed.

“Yeah, and she dropped her book,” said Riku, “Maybe she’ll be your friend if you give it back to her.” That sounded like a decent plan, so they picked it up and headed to the other side of the playground. The little girl peeked out from behind the legs of a blonde man who must have been her father.

“Hi,” Sora greeted them; “She dropped her book so we’re giving it back.”

“Well, that’s very nice of you!” said the man, “Are these your friends, Naminé?” She shook her head. “Why don’t you thank them?” Naminé shook her head again and buried her face in his legs. “Sorry about that,” said the man to Sora and Riku, “Naminé’s just a little shy around strangers.”

“I told you so!” cried Riku triumphantly.

“We were just about to play with our colored chalk. Do you guys like to draw?” asked Naminé’s father.

The boys shrugged. “No, we like to play with our swords,” answered Riku, “You wanna fight me again, Sora?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna beat you this time for sure!”

“Ha! No, you’re not! I’m gonna knock you on your face!”

They took off running again, forgetting all about Naminé. They didn’t notice that she watched them as they clashed their swords and chased each other all over the playground. Sora jumped, dived, spun around, and flailed his arm back and forth, but Riku continued to stay one step ahead of him. They sparred in between the swings, up and down the slide, through the trees, and in the sandbox, until Sora fell down. “I…I give up…” he gasped.

“Told ya.” Riku smirked.

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of someone else’s footsteps pattering towards them. They looked up. Naminé approached them, threw a sheet of paper at Sora’s face, and ran back to her father. “Huh?” said Sora.

“What is it?” asked Riku, crouching down next to him to get a better look. Sora held it up for him to see. Naminé had drawn a picture of the two of them fighting with their swords. “Woooow! She drew ME!” cried Riku.

“And me too!” squealed Sora.

“She’s really _good!_ ”

“Yeah!”

For a split second, they admired the drawing. Then they raced each other back to Naminé and her father, yelling at the top of their lungs: “Hey, come back!  You’re really good! Can you draw me fighting a sea monster?”

“No, draw ME fighting a sea monster!”

“No, draw us BOTH fighting a sea monster!”

“Draw all three of us fighting a sea monster!”

Out of breath again, Sora stopped in front of the two of them and managed to say, “You’re…really…really…good…thank you…can you draw…more…please?”

Naminé, still hiding behind her father, poked her head out from around his waist. She looked up at him. He smiled and nodded. “Do you want to play with them, Nami? Go on.”

Finally, she smiled too. “Okay.”

"YAY!" they cheered, high-fiving one another.  She still wasn't very talkative, but Sora figured they could work on that.


	4. Stargazing

“This is _so_ cool!” squealed Sora, “There’s so many of ‘em! Look!” He pointed to the stars shining down from the sky. Riku and Naminé sat beside him. She had her sketchbook in her lap again, and Riku held up a flashlight so she could see her drawing better. So far, however, she had not colored anything. A few feet away, her mother had set up a tripod and camera to take pictures of the moon.  They were the only ones out on the beach at night.

“Aren’t you gonna draw yet?” Riku asked Naminé.  “My arm’s getting sore!”

“Sorry,” she replied, “I just don’t know how to draw stars! They’re white and this is white too!” She held up the blank sheet of paper and let out a frustrated sigh.

“You could use yellow,” Sora suggested, “That’s what I use when I draw white stuff.”

Riku studied the blank page and the stars above them. “You don’t have to do that,” he said, “The stars look like circles, right? So draw a bunch of circles and then don’t color ‘em in. Then they’ll still look white.”

“Oh!” cried Naminé, “You’re right! Thanks, Riku!” She got to work immediately, but once she had finished, she still frowned at the result. “It doesn’t look right. It doesn’t look like the sky.”

“I think it looks cool,” said Riku.

“Me too!” Sora piped up.

Naminé ripped the page out. “No, it looks bad. It’s not as pretty as the real stars.” She crumpled it up and threw it away, before starting on a fresh page.

A breeze blew the previous drawing over to her mother’s feet. She paused from her photographs to examine it. “Oh, Naminé, there’s nothing wrong with your picture. It’ll never look exactly like the stars, but my pictures won’t either. You just try to capture it as best as you can.” Naminé ignored her and scribbled away at the new drawing. When it inevitably disappointed her, she tore it out with a groan and started on a third attempt.

“Do I have to keep holding the flashlight?” Riku complained.

“One more time! I’m almost done!”

“UGH!”

Sora laid himself flat on his back so he could see the sky better. “You guys should just look at the stars. It’s way more fun.” Suddenly, he sat up again and shouted, “LOOK! That one’s shooting across the sky! Look at it, guys!” His friends looked up just in time and gasped in delight.

As he laid back down again, Sora turned his head towards Riku and Naminé and asked, “Where d’you guys think the stars come from? How come there’s so many of ‘em?”

“I heard people say that the stars are other worlds other there, with people on ‘em that are just like us. And when they look at the sky, they can see us too, but we look like a star to them too,” said Riku.

“We’re ON A STAR?! COOL!” yelled Sora.

Naminé put down her black crayon for a moment- which had quickly dwindled down to a stub. “You really think there are other worlds?” she asked, “So other kids are watching the same stars as us?”

“Yeah, I think so,” replied Riku thoughtfully, “Maybe we can meet ‘em some day. I wanna see other worlds.”

“Yeah, we can make lotsa new friends!” agreed Sora, “Like you guys are my friends!”

“Thanks,” said Naminé quietly, “I like being your friend.” And then she returned to her drawing, only to decide that the third attempt didn’t meet her standards either. “Can you please hold the flashlight just a little tiny bit longer?” she begged Riku.

“UGGGGGGHHHHHH!”

* * *

And as it happened, on another world, far away from Destiny Islands, another little girl sat in her grandmother’s lap, watching the stars from their balcony. “They’re real pretty, Grandma,” she said, as her grandmother rocked her back and forth. “How come there’s so many of ‘em?”

“Those are all other worlds,” her grandmother replied, “Many of them, yet they all share the same sky. And they used to all be one, before darkness split them apart…”

The little girl’s face lit up. She wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s neck. “Grandma, are you gonna tell me that story again? Please? Please?”

Her grandmother laughed. “You never get tired of it, do you? Very well. _Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of the light_ …” The girl snuggled up close to listen to her favorite tale of how the worlds almost fell to darkness, until children like her saved them. She wondered if the children on other worlds knew the story too, and if they were watching the stars just like her.


	5. Movie

_“Sweetheart, I’m begging you, don’t go swimming!”_

_“Relax, Lizzie! For the last time, there’s no such thing as a kelpie!”_

“Oh no, oh no, the bad music’s starting!” wailed Naminé, diving under the blanket that she, Sora, and Riku were sharing.

“Was that its tail? Guys, I think I saw its tail in the water! THE MONSTER IS COMING!” Sora screamed.

Riku refused to scream or cry. He was the leader of the group, after all, and the sleepover was being held at his house. Watching the movie without their parents’ permission had been _his_ idea. He would maintain a brave face in order to keep his friends calm and he would certainly _not_ let a silly movie scare him…

The kelpie’s ghostly head sprung from the waves and lunged for the foolish teenager floating in the water.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!” Within seconds, Riku had joined his friends under the blanket.

Needless to say, their first sleepover did not involve much sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this is a short one, and the next couple of chapters will be short like this too. They're leftovers from the 150-word challenge that I'd originally planned to take. While I have tried to embellish some of them, I ultimately discovered that I couldn't add much more than a sentence here or there. They were originally designed to be short, quick, and to the point. Any additions made felt like useless padding.
> 
> I promise that most of the other chapters in this story will be longer. Thank you for reading, and any kudos and comments are always appreciated!


	6. Jealousy

_Whack! Whack! Whack!_

Naminé watched her friends fighting with their toy swords, this time over whose picture she would draw next. As always, Riku was clearly winning, but Sora wasn’t going down without a fierce struggle.  She wondered where he found the courage to do that, even when he knew that the odds of winning were not very likely. _I’m not like that_ , she realized, _I wish I could be brave like Sora._

Sora fell to his knees, panting, as Riku stood triumphantly over him. He could barely look his friend in the eye as he mumbled, “You win again.” And he wished with all of his heart that he could be a champion like Riku.

Riku grinned and sat next to Naminé, watching as she started her drawing of him. He could beat his friends at any competitive game, but he lacked her skill with crayons. Sometimes he wished he didn’t.


	7. Butterflies

The boys were taken aback when Naminé approached them with a request: “Can I pick the game today?” Usually, she went along with whatever they were pretending to be and embellished the story with some of her own ideas.

After a split second of hesitation, Sora replied, “Okay! What do you want to play?”

Naminé clapped her hands together in delight. “Butterflies!”

Sora and Riku gaped at her. “What.”

“My mommy read me a story last night about a kingdom of butterflies! So we’re each gonna pretend to be butterflies and we fly around like this…” She spread out her arms, like wings, and started running around in circles. “And we have to protect our kingdom from the evil bees!”

“Who gets to be the bee?” asked Sora quickly.

“Um…I guess one of you could be the bees instead of a butterfly…”

The swordfight that ensued was the fiercest that Sora and Riku had ever fought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the last of the super-short drabbles for now. The next chapter will be a bit longer. :)


	8. Letters to Santa

_Dear Santa,_

_Thank you for all the Christmas presents last year! This year, can I please have one of the big toy pirate ship sets at the toy store on my island? They have one right in the window but there’s lots of ‘em in the store. Riku wants one too and then we can have them battle each other!_

_I also want a blitzball, and a new shovel, and some new buckets for building sandcastles, because I lost my old shovel at the playground. I also want lots of candy. I don’t care what kind it is. I like every candy._

_And last of all, can you please let me beat Riku in one fight-_

Sora’s mother put her pencil down. “No, Sora. Santa Claus doesn’t give presents like that.”

“Aw, c’mon, Mommy! Please just write it down? Please? You don’t know! Maybe he will!”

“It’s not going to work. Santa only brings toys and candy. He’s not going to help you fight Riku.”

“It’s not a REAL fight, Mommy!” groaned Sora, “It’s not BAD fighting! It’s just pretend! But he always wins. And I wanna win for once. So write it down.”

His mother thought it over for a moment. “You know, it doesn’t count if Santa helps you win.”

“Huh?”

“Here, I would have thought you would rather beat Riku on your own. If you ask Santa to use some kind of magic to let you win, then you didn’t really win. Santa did it for you. It won’t count. But if you beat Riku without Santa’s magic, then you can tell him that you won all by yourself.”

Sora chewed on his lip. “Um…”

“But if that’s how you want to win, I’ll write it down…”

“NO!” Sora jumped up and spread his arms across the letter, as far as he could reach. “Cross it out! You gotta cross it out! I don’t want Santa to do that anymore!”

“Okay, if that’s what you want…” His mother fought back a smile and kept writing what he dictated to her.

_And that’s all I want for Christmas. That’s it. Nothing else. The End. I’ll make sure to put out lots of cookies for you and the reindeer._

_Thank you._

_Love,_

_Sora_

* * *

_Dear Santa,_

_Can I please have a big new box of crayons, like the one that’s got 64 colors, and a new sketchbook, and also a coloring book with pictures of fish and dolphins and whales and mermaids? And I’d also like a big cherry lollipop because that’s my favorite flavor. And Mommy and Daddy say that I can’t have a real cat, so I would like a toy one that I can pretend is a real cat. And maybe some beads to make a necklace. Thank you!_

_Love,_

_Naminé_

_P.S. I drew a picture of you and Mrs. Claus and the elves and the reindeer at the North Pole. Can you please tell me if it looks right? And if it doesn’t look like the North Pole, can you please tell me how to draw it? Thank you!_

_P.P.S. Sora told us he was gonna ask you for a new shovel because he lost his old one. I just found his old shovel so you don’t have to give him a new one._

* * *

_Dear Santa,_

_Hi, it’s me, Riku. Thank you for my presents last year. Can I have a pirate ship set? Sora wants one too. We’re gonna pretend that they’re enemy ships and they’re battling each other. But we’re just pretending. We’re not really fighting. We’ve been good this year._

_I’d also like a sword with my name carved into it. Sora has one like that and it looks cool._

_And that’s it, except for one more thing. And it’s what I really want the most, more than any of the other stuff I just asked Dad to write down. Can you please let me and Sora and Naminé come for a ride with you in your sleigh? We’ve all been really good, and I really want to see what the outside world looks like. It would be the best thing ever. We won’t tell anyone about it or tell them how you deliver the presents. We can even help you deliver the presents. You don’t even have to pay us munny like grown-ups do. We’ll help you for free!_

_That’s all I really want for Christmas. I do want the pirate ship and the sword too, but mostly I want the sleigh ride._

_Thanks,_

_Riku_

* * *

_Dear Santa,_

_I can’t wait for you to come to Radiant Garden on Christmas Eve! Grandma and I are making you lots of cookies! We’re cutting them into all kinds of shapes, but I’m not gonna tell you which ones so you can be surprised._

_Can I please have a stuffed chocobo? There’s one at the store at the Center Plaza by the big fountain that’s really fluffy and it has an eggshell on its head. I will name him Boko and I will love him and take very good care of him!_

_I’d also like a big storybook with fairy tales, and some candy canes, and some pretend food and a pretend tree so I can pretend that my toys are having Christmas._

_Also, Santa, since I’ve been really, really good this year, can I ask for a big present? I want a friend. I like playing with Grandma and the big kids that babysit for me, but I don’t have a friend who’s a kid like me. So can I have one? A best friend would be even better! If you can’t, it’s okay._

_Love,_

_Kairi_


	9. Mermaid

Sora, the bravest, kindest, noblest of heroes in all the land, poked his head out of the bushes. He’d followed the footprints of the pirates that invaded his island and located the part of the beach where they were holding their prisoner. “This is it, Captain Riku!” he whispered, “We found the mermaid! Let’s go save her!”

“Be careful, Sora!” hissed his leader. “They’re probably hiding somewhere! We have to be quiet!”

Sora nodded. Together, they crept up to the cage of the beautiful mermaid. She appeared to be fairly calm, given her dreadful situation. “Don’t worry!” whispered Sora, “We’ve come to save you!”

“That’s what YOU think!” hollered a terrible voice. Three pirates came leaping out from behind a wooden shack.

“It’s the evil Captain Tidus and his crew!” shouted Sora.

“Oh yeah? You guys are going down!” said Riku, brandishing his sword.

“That’s what YOU think!” hollered Tidus.

“You just said that,” said Riku, “Say something cooler!”

“Okay, fine…um…uh…” The pirate scratched his head. “Uh…oh, yeah! You’ll never save the mermaid! We’re gonna sell her and make lots and lots of money ‘cause we’re the first ones to ever catch a real mermaid! That’s how we’re gonna get rich! And you can’t stop us!”

“Wait! Stop the game!”

The story came to a halt, and everyone lowered their toy weapons. Sora turned to the mermaid. She’d spent the entire time drawing pictures in her sketchbook without saying a word or looking at them. “Naminé!” whined Sora, “You’re s’posed to act scared!”

“Uh-huh,” she replied, still not looking up.

“Sora’s right. It’s not as fun when you’re just sitting there,” Wakka agreed.

“Uh-huh.”

“You gotta say something like, ‘Ahhh! Save me!’ added Tidus.

“Uh-huh.”

“And then ‘cause you’re a mermaid, you give Sora and Riku magical hugs, and that turns you into a real girl, and you guys get to be friends and live happily ever after!” finished Selphie, as she bounced up and down.

“Uh-huh.”

“Forget it. Let’s just go back to the game,” said Riku with a sigh. The other kids shrugged and followed his lead. Naminé continued to draw, completely oblivious to the epic battle that broke out right next to her. The kids screamed war cries as they attacked each other with fake swords and a jump rope, and Wakka’s blitzball almost hit her more than once.

When the dust cleared, Tidus, Selphie and Wakka lay in a heap. Sora and Riku rushed to the mermaid’s side. “We saved you!” announced Sora proudly.

Naminé put down her crayons and held up her sketchbook. “Look! I drew a ship!” she squealed.

“You’re supposed to say, ‘hooray’ and ‘thank you for saving me,’” said Riku.

“Okay. But do you like my ship?”

The boys stared at each other and finally shrugged. “…yeah, it’s good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this one a while ago, but didn't post it because I wanted to write a chapter that explained how the kids met Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka. But I couldn't come up with anything interesting enough. And since it's really a fanfic about the friendship between Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé (and this story desperately needed an update) I decided it really wasn't that important how they met TSW and went with posting this drabble instead.


	10. Treasure Hunt

Just off the shore of the main island, there lay a smaller one which everyone dubbed “the Children’s Island.” Nobody lived there, and so, over the years, it became a natural playground. Sora, Riku, Naminé, and their other friends loved to go there to play and explore. Its small waterfalls, caves, bridges and large tree house lent more to their imaginations than the much smaller playground on the main island. They ran back and forth across the main beach, making stories up off the tops of their heads. Other times, they’d run across an old wooden bridge to a part of the Children’s Island that had gotten cut off from the rest, and they would sit on the crooked trunk of the paopu tree and watch the sunset.

And then one day, when Naminé’s mother brought her to the island, she saw holes and piles of sand everywhere. Sora and Riku stood underneath the wooden bridge, digging yet another one. All of a sudden, Sora dropped the shovel and shoved Riku into the pile of sand they’d created. “This is all your fault!” he yelled.

Riku got up and shoved him back. “It’s not my fault you’re stupid and didn’t draw a map!”

“You SAID if we marked the spot, the bad guys would find it!”

“So?! You still could have made a map, stupid!”

“I’m not stupid! You’re stupid!” shouted Sora. This time, he shoved Riku into the hole. Naminé ran over to them, clutching her sketchbook and crayons so tightly that the crayon box crumpled.

“Why are you guys fighting?” she asked.

Sora started to cry. “Riku lost my birthday money!” he wailed.

“No, I didn’t!” yelled Riku, as he climbed out of the hole.

“Yes, you did!” shrieked Sora, “We were playin’ here yesterday, and Riku said we should pretend it was treasure, so we put it in a box and we buried it, and I wanted to mark it with an X, but Riku said the bad pirates would find it, so I didn’t! And now we don’t remember where we buried it!”

Naminé took Sora’s hand. “I can help you find it!” she assured him.

“No, you can’t! You weren’t there!” he cried.

She squeezed his hand and closed her eyes to concentrate. Where _had_ the boys hidden their treasure yesterday? After a moment, she opened her eyes again and asked, “Did you look by the shack?”

“No, we didn’t put it in the shack because that’s where we always hide our stuff. We wanted it to be different,” said Sora.

“Not inside the shack. I mean outside the shack.”

“ _No,_ ” insisted Sora, “That’s too close to where we usually hide our stuff!”

Riku tossed his shovel away with a groan. “I give up. We’re never gonna find it.”

“You can’t give up! It’s your fault that all my birthday money’s gone!” shouted Sora.

“It is not!” shouted Riku.

“IS TOO!”

“IS NOT!”

“IS TOO!”

Naminé picked up Riku’s shovel and walked over to the shack.

“I’M NEVER PLAYIN’ WITH YOU AGAIN!” yelled Sora. Riku shoved him a second time. That did it. Sora grabbed his sword. Riku followed suit. In seconds, their wooden swords clashed together. They swiped at each other in a vicious manner, such as they’d never done before.  When Riku knocked Sora's sword out of his hands, the latter tackled him instead.

Neither one of them heard Naminé grunting as she dug around the sand next to the shack.

“Boys, boys! Stop that!” her mother cried. She rushed over from the docks and pulled the two former friends apart. “Let’s all calm down and think about how we can find Sora’s money.”

“We’ll never find it!” wailed Sora, “It’s lost forever and it’s ALL HIS FAULT!”

“Sora! Riku! Is this the treasure?”

Naminé ran up to them with a battered, sandy shoebox in her arms. “THAT’S IT!” screamed Sora, “How’d you find it?!”

She shrugged. “I told you. It was by the shack.”

“But…” Sora scratched his head. “Oh…oh yeah! We did put it there yesterday! Remember, Riku? You said not to put it inside so I put it outside instead.”

“…oh yeah,” mumbled Riku.

For a moment, nobody said a word. They looked at one another and waited for somebody else to speak first. But at last, Sora turned in Riku’s general direction with his head lowered. “I’m real sorry that I called you stupid and I shoved you and said I didn’t wanna play with you anymore.”

Riku blushed. “I’m real sorry that I called you stupid and I shoved you and I lost your money. Do you still wanna be friends?”

“Of course I do!” Sora threw aside his sword and the treasure box to hug his best friend. “C’mon, let’s go hide my treasure someplace else, and this time we’ll get Naminé to draw us a map!”

“Okay!”

Both boys ran off with the treasure and their toys, leaving Naminé behind with her mother. She scratched her head. “Mommy, they were really mad at each other,” she observed, “But now they’re friends again like they never had a fight at all!”

Her mother laughed. “Sometimes, friends are like that,” she said, “Are you going to catch up with them?”

Naminé hesitated. Her mother’s explanation made no sense. But at least her friends had stopped fighting. “Okay,” she decided, “Sora! Riku! Wait for me, guys!”


	11. The Stranger

Countless crumpled-up balls of paper lay underneath the crooked paopu tree where Naminé sat. She frowned at the open page in her sketchbook. It showed a messy mix-up of orange, pink, and yellow that didn’t look much like the sunset she wanted to capture. She’d previously tried coloring rows of pink, orange, and yellow on top of one another, but that hadn’t worked out either. Adding green triangles for the ocean waves underneath had made it look even worse.

Naminé reached into her pocket and pulled out a keychain with a plastic yellow star attached to it: a good-luck charm that she’d had ever since she was a baby. She placed it in her lap, in front of a fresh page, and got back to work. _This_ time, it ought to come out right.

She didn’t hear her friends teasing each other as they raced across the wooden bridge, and wasn’t even aware of their presence until they climbed up the trunk to sit on either side of her. “Hi, Naminé!” Sora greeted her, “Whatcha drawin’?”

“The sunset,” replied Naminé, as she ripped the page out and crumpled it up. So much for the help of her good-luck charm. Maybe it didn’t work with drawings. “I messed up.”

“Gee, I thought it looked good!” he said.

“No, I messed up. I gotta do it again.”

The boys looked at one another and shrugged. They’d grown accustomed to the weird standards that Naminé set for her drawings. “You’d better hurry up,” remarked Riku, “Sora’s dad should be here soon to pick us up.”

Naminé huffed and scribbled as fast as she could with the yellow crayon- then orange- then pink- then purple. When she finished, all she could see was another ugly mess of colors. “It’s not pretty,” she said with a sigh, “It’s s’posed to be pretty like the real sunset.”

“It looks okay,” said Riku.

“No, it doesn’t!” Naminé let her sketchbook fall into the sand and pouted. To make matters worse, she heard Sora’s father calling their names from the dock, just as Riku had predicted.

Sora jumped up and waved to him. “Ahoy! We’re over here!” To his friends, he added, “I’ll race you guys! First one to the boat gets to be captain! C’mon, Naminé!”

“Wait!” she cried, “I gotta get my stuff!” But Sora had already started running across the bridge. She snatched her sketchbook, stuffed her crayons in her pocket next to her good-luck charm, and followed him. It wasn’t until she’d reached the beach when she realized that Riku hadn’t taken up Sora’s challenge. He walked behind them at a much slower pace. Perhaps he’d gotten bored from challenging Sora all day.

And then she noticed someone else. A stranger stood near the shoreline, watching the waves. Sora noticed him too and slowed to a walk so he could get a better look. The man was tall and had bits of metal armor attached to his clothes. None of the children had ever seen anything like him on Destiny Islands before. Naminé hurried to Sora’s side and hid behind him. “Who’s that?” she whispered.

“I dunno,” he replied, “He looks kinda cool!”

“I’m scared, Sora!”

Sora smiled at her. “Why? He’s just some guy.”

“What if he’s a bad guy?”

“There’s no bad guys on Destiny Islands!” Sora laughed. But Naminé didn’t smile back. He took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Okay, I know! Let’s play a game. We’ll pretend he’s a bad guy, and we’re the good guys, and we gotta make it back to the dock to my dad because that’s our base! We just gotta be REALLY quiet! And if he sees us, I’ll hit ‘em with my sword!”

Naminé giggled. “And what do I do?”

Sora kicked some sand as he thought it over. “Let’s pretend…your pictures are MAGIC pictures! So, like, you draw a kelpie, or a shark, and it turns into a real thing! And then it ATTACKS!” At the sound of his outburst, the stranger turned to face them. Sora and Naminé clasped hands. “He sees us! Run to my dad! Run for your lives!” squealed Sora.

The “bad guy” didn’t pursue them, but Naminé thought she heard him laughing to himself. Somehow, she found herself laughing too, as she held Sora’s hand all the way back to the dock.


	12. The Secret

Most of the time, Riku felt that he couldn’t ask for a better pair of best friends than Sora and Naminé. Today was not shaping up to be one of those days.

“C’mon! Please tell me? Please please please pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaseeee?” cried Sora- directly into his ear.

“ _No,_ Sora! It has to be a secret or it won’t work!”

“What won’t work? Who was that guy? Can’t you just tell me his name?”

“No!”

“What was he doing on our island all by himself?”

“I don’t know!”

“What was that giant key he was holding?”

“I don’t know! And I’m not supposed to tell!” groaned Riku, “Stop asking me!”

He still couldn’t believe what had happened the evening before. He’d been playing with his friends at the Children’s Island, when he’d spotted a stranger standing by the edge of the water. The man held a paopu fruit in his head and smiled at it for some reason. Riku could tell that he didn’t come from the main island; neither he nor his friends had ever seen a grown-up wearing real armor before. Not a lot of armor, but there was some covering his shoulder, and the man held a large metal key idly in his hand.

Naminé wouldn’t go near him. She hid behind Sora as they ran back to the dock. But Riku decided to say hello. Based on his appearance, this man clearly went on all kinds of exciting adventures, just like the ones that he pretended to have with his friends. The man looked strong and powerful too. He must know all about the outside world, and he would know how to protect people from real bad guys. He could tell Riku how to do that too.

As it turned out, the man, who called himself Terra, had been very friendly to him. He even let Riku hold his weapon. And while he didn’t immediately offer to take the children on exciting adventures to other worlds, he did promise to return one day. Riku didn’t understand everything that he said, but it sounded like Terra was willing to teach him how to be a hero too.

And there was one thing that Terra said that Riku _did_ understand fairly well: “You’ve gotta keep this a secret, all right? Otherwise all the magic will wear off.”

There was no way that Riku would risk his chance to go on magical adventures when he got older. So no matter how much Sora begged and pleaded and whined, he resolved to keep his mouth shut. But Sora wasn’t getting the message at all.

“Can’t you give me a hint?”

“NO!”

Sora finally stopped asking questions when they reached Naminé’s house and knocked on her front door. At least she hadn’t asked any questions about Terra. In fact, she hadn’t said anything to Riku since he’d talked to Terra. But she was usually pretty quiet, so that didn’t bother him.

Her mother answered the door. “Hello, Riku! Hello, Sora! Are you going back to the Children’s Island today?”

“Yes, we are!” answered Sora cheerfully, bouncing on the heels of his feet. “Can Naminé come too?”

“I’ll let her know you’re here.”

The boys waited outside…and waited…and waited…and waited. When Naminé’s mother returned, Naminé wasn’t with her. “I’m sorry, boys,” she said, “Naminé doesn’t want to come to the island today.”

“Oh,” said Sora, “Does she want to play here instead?”

“I’ll ask her.” Her mother went back upstairs. The boys waited some more, and suddenly heard a familiar voice shouting, “NO!”

“Naminé?” they heard her mother saying, “What’s the matter?”

“NO!”

“Would you like them to come back tomorrow instead?”

“NO! I’m drawing!”

“You can’t draw pictures all day.”

“Can too!”

“Naminé, what’s going on? Why don’t you want to play with your friends?”

“I don’t wanna be friends with Riku anymore!” she wailed.

The boys exchanged startled looks. “What’d you do, Riku?” whispered Sora.

“I didn’t do anything!” he protested. They heard Naminé crying upstairs. Without another word to each other, they raced up the stairs to her bedroom to investigate the matter. When she noticed them standing in the doorway, she crawled to the farthest corner of the room and turned her back to them. “Naminé! What’d I do?” demanded Riku, “What do you mean, we’re not friends anymore?”

Naminé hiccupped and brushed aside her tears, but didn’t answer his question. Her mother folded her arms over her chest. “Naminé. Don’t be rude. Why don’t you want to play with your friends?”

“I’m not playing. I’m drawing.”

“But you can draw next to us while we play!” protested Sora, “We always do that!”

“No!” she cried. She finally turned her head around and glared at Riku. “I never wanna play with you again!”

“Why?!” he cried, “Why are you mad at me?”

“Because!” she replied, as though that explained everything.

“Naminé, we’ve talked about this hundreds of times. We can’t fix your problem if you won’t tell us what’s wrong,” said her exasperated mother. But it was no good. She wouldn’t answer them.

Riku glared at the floor and kicked one of her stuffed cats. “FINE!” he shouted, “I don’t wanna be friends with you anymore either!” And with that, he stormed out of the room. “C’mon Sora!” he called over his shoulder. “Let’s go play without her!”

Sora hesitated in the doorway. “Are you mad at me too, Naminé?”

She sniffled. “You’re just gonna go play with Riku!”

“But I wanna play with both of you!”

“NO!” she shouted.

Sora ran forward to try hugging her. But as soon as he spread his arms out, she pushed him away. Her mother sighed. “Okay, Sora. I think you need to come back another day, when Naminé isn’t being rude. And Naminé, if you keep behaving like this, I’m going to have to take away your sketchbook.”

Naminé reacted to the threat by crying harder, throwing herself inside her closet, and slamming the door shut. “Come ON, Sora!” Riku shouted from downstairs. Sora had no other choice but to follow him.

The boys remained quiet for a time, as they shuffled back to Riku’s house. “I don’t get it,” said Sora, “Why’s Naminé so mad at us?”

Riku plopped down on the steps of his front porch and wrapped his arms around his knees. “I don’t know. She was happy yesterday. What did we do yesterday?”

“Um…” Sora bit his lip. “The same stuff we do every day…?”

“Yeah…” Riku held up his fingers. “Naminé drew pictures and we went swimming…then we played hide and seek…then you ‘n’ me had a sword fight and I won and Naminé drew my face…and it was really good and I liked it…and then we went swimming again…and we pretended to be pirates…and we raced each other on the beach…”

“Yeah. It was lots of fun! Naminé laughed and smiled a lot. She was happy. Right? Wasn’t she happy?” asked Sora.

“I think so,” said Riku.

All of a sudden, Sora jumped up and down. “OH! I know! I know I know I know! She’s mad ‘cause you won’t tell us about that guy!”

Riku gasped. “But…but she didn’t ask me about him yesterday! Only you did!”

“Yeah, but she’s shy. Maybe she didn’t ask ‘cause I was asking,” Sora pointed out.

“Oh.” Riku stared at his knees and thought back to the day before. He couldn’t remember if Naminé said anything to him about Terra. He could only recall Sora bouncing all around, asking him a million questions at once. That was the problem with Naminé: she tended to sit quietly and watch the others having fun, so that they sometimes forgot she was there. Riku couldn’t even remember if she’d said goodbye to him. “I don’t know,” he said to Sora, “Maybe you’re right.”

“Then you gotta tell her about the guy,” said Sora.

Riku felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. “I _can’t!_ ” he cried, “Terra said that I had to keep it a secret or the magic would wear off!”

“ _Magic?!_ ” shrieked Sora, “What magic?! I want magic too!”

“No! It’s just for me so I can protect you guys from bad guys!”

Sora laughed. “I don’t need you to protect me from bad guys! I got my sword too, see? YAH!” He waved his toy sword energetically, then starting poking Riku in the shoulder with it. “Hi-yah! Hi-yah! Take that!”

“Stop it already!” groaned Riku, shoving the sword away.

Sora did so. “So you’re not gonna tell us anything? But what if Naminé stays mad at you forever and ever, and then we don’t get to be friends with her anymore?”

To never be friends with Naminé again? That would mean no more amazing drawings to see; no more playing games with her. She wouldn’t let them pretend to rescue her from monsters anymore, or cheer for him when he beat Sora at something, or listen to him as he described all the adventures he wanted to have some day when they got bigger. She wouldn’t smile and laugh with them anymore.

But if Riku told Naminé the truth about Terra, he’d never get to go on any of those adventures with her or Sora. The magic would wear off and Terra wouldn’t be able to come back.

Riku slammed his fist into the porch steps. “I’m not allowed to tell yet! She’s not allowed to know!”

“But now she doesn’t want to be friends with us!” cried Sora.

“Then she’s not my friend anymore! We can have fun without her! Let’s go see if anyone else wants to go to the Island with us!” He stomped down the street in the direction of Tidus’ house. Sora trailed behind him, dragging his sword through the sand. He kept looking over his shoulder to see if Naminé had changed her mind yet. Maybe if they waited a little longer, she’d come out of her house and run down to join them.

But she didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONTINUED...dun dun dun!


	13. A New Friend

Sora pressed his back up against the dungeon’s cold, stone walls. He poked his head out from behind Riku. “Can you see the witch?” he whispered.

“Shhh!” hissed Riku, “She’s coming!” He grabbed Sora’s hand and they walked quickly back down the passage, away from the footsteps drawing closer and closer to them. They’d spent the whole day battling monsters in the legendary Dark Forests, and they’d scaled the smooth, slick walls of the dreaded castle. But the evil sorceress who lived there proved to be a tougher enemy than they’d expected. Her tickle spells were the deadliest that they’d ever encountered.

“Let’s say that there’s a treasure in the deepest, darkest part of the dungeon, and she’s guarding it, but when you find it, it means her spells won’t work!” said Sora.

“What’s it look like?” asked Riku.

“It looks like a paopu fruit! We have to get up THERE!” Sora pointed to a big tree branch that hung high above their heads. The yellow, star-shaped fruit hung from its branches. “Hurry, Riku! Let’s get it!”

But before they could come up with a proper plan, or even move, a blue-haired woman leapt in front of them, blocking their path. “AHA!” she cackled, “You will NEVER get past me! Me, the Mistress of all Evil!”

“RUN, RIKU! IT’S THE WITCH! DON’T LET HER GET YOU!” shrieked Sora. The boys dashed off in different directions. The witch ran after Sora and scooped him up off the ground. “No! Lemme go!” he cried, “Riku, help!”

“I’ve got you now!” said the witch, as she started tickling him underneath his arms.

“NO!” Sora laughed. “Not the tickle spell!”

“I’ll save you, Sora!” cried Riku. He charged towards the woman, waving his wooden sword. She gasped, then pretended to trip and fall into the sand. Riku jumped on top of her and whacked her with his sword. “You leave Sora alone, you evil witch!” he shouted.

“Noooooo!” cried the witch, “I won’t lose to the likes of you!”

“Yes, you will!” shouted Sora, “Cause we’re good and you’re bad!” She tickled him again. He shrieked with laughter, and soon all three of them lay in a heap on the sandy shores of the Children’s Island.

“Miss Aqua, you’re really good at pretending to be a witch!” said Riku.

He’d been right after all, as Riku often was. They did make a new friend. After a lonely afternoon without Naminé, he and Sora discovered a woman sitting by their favorite paopu tree. She introduced herself as Aqua. Some of the other things she said to them didn’t make a lot of sense, but she appeared to be a nice lady. When they invited her to play with them, she smiled and agreed, and willingly played whatever role they asked of her, including the evil witch.

“Thank you,” she replied. “I know all about witches. I fought one once. She was _so_ evil and _so_ powerful, that when I tried to fight her, she turned into a dragon!”

“Wooooooow!” The boys got to their feet and stared up at her with wide eyes. “Tell us about it!” cried Sora.

“Hmmmm…” Aqua smiled. “Are you _sure_ you want to hear it? It’s a scary story.”

“YES! YES!” They jumped up and down. “We wanna hear it! We’re not scared!”

“Okay, if you think you’re brave enough…”

“We are! We are!”

Aqua motioned for them to sit down, and she began to act out her tale, a tale of a sorceress who cursed a princess into a deep sleep that only true love’s kiss could break. She described how she’d infiltrated the witch’s lair atop the Forbidden Mountain, only to get captured and locked in the dungeon with a handsome prince.

“How’d he get stuck in there?” asked Sora.

“He was the princess’ true love, so the witch locked him away where he wouldn’t be able to wake the princess up.”

“That’s mean!” cried Sora.

“That’s ‘cause she’s the _bad guy_ ,” said Riku, rolling his eyes at his friend.

“Would you like to hear how we escaped?” asked Aqua.

“YES!”

The boys listened in awe as Aqua described three kind fairies who unlocked the dungeon doors and broke through the prince’s chains with their good magic. “Wait, who were they?” asked Sora.

“They were the princess’ guardians.”

“What’s a guardian?”

“It’s someone who takes care of you when your parents can’t,” explained Aqua.

“Why couldn’t her mommy or daddy take care of her?” asked Sora.

“I don’t know. I never asked them.”

“Why not?”

“C’mon Sora, let’s just hear the rest of the story!” Riku moaned, flopping down in the sand.

“Okay…”

Using one of the boys’ toy swords as a prop, Aqua continued her tale, showing them how she and the prince, Phillip, fought dozens of monsters as they escaped from the castle. (“Me and Riku have fought hundreds of monsters! We’ve fought THOUSANDS of monsters! We’ve fought MILLIONS and BILLIONS and TRILLIONS of monsters!” “Yeah, but they weren’t real, Sora.”) She acted out Prince Philip jumping on his horse and riding as fast as he could to the castle of the sleeping princess. (“What’s a horse? How big are they? How do you ride one?”)   She waved the toy sword high above her head to show them the way that the evil witch created a maze of thorns to stop them from escaping. And as Aqua described the witch turning into a dragon, and how she and Philip had battled the dragon to save the princess, Sora and Riku stopped asking questions. They gazed at her with their mouths hanging open.

“And after we slayed the dragon, Philip went to the castle, kissed the princess, and woke her up!”

“YAY!”  The boys cheered and applauded.

“You’re so cool, Miss Aqua!” said Riku, “Can you show us how you fought the dragon again? Can you teach us how to do it with our swords?”

“Of course!” she replied.

“Let’s play a new game!” cried Sora, “We can pretend we’re fightin’ the witch, Riku! Miss Aqua can be the dragon! I’ll be Miss Aqua and you be Prince Philip!”

“No, _I’m_ Miss Aqua. _You’re_ Prince Philip,” countered Riku.

“No, it was my idea and I wanna be Miss Aqua!”

“You’re not strong enough to be Miss Aqua!”

“I am too!”

“No, you’re not!”

“Yes, I am!”

“No, you’re not!”

“Yes, I am and I’ll prove it! I’m gonna beat you in a sword fight right now!”

Aqua stepped in between them, throwing her hands up. “Boys, boys! Why don’t you take turns instead?”

The boys mulled over this odd new suggestion. Eventually, Sora nodded. “Okay. Riku can be Miss Aqua first. Then it’s my turn. Deal?” Riku nodded and they shook hands. “Great! So Miss Aqua is the dragon, Riku is Miss Aqua, I’ll be Prince Philip, and Naminé can be the sleeping princess!”

Riku shook his head. “No, Sora. Naminé’s not our friend anymore, remember?”

Sora slumped over. “Oh yeah. I forgot.”

“Oh?” Aqua crouched down so that she could be at eye level with the boys. “Who’s Naminé?”

Sora told her the whole story, starting with the visit from the mysterious stranger on the previous day. “Oh, Terra, what have you done now?” she murmured to herself, so quietly that neither Sora nor Riku heard her.

“And now she’s not our friend anymore,” Sora finished, “And we still don’t know why.” His eyes and throat felt funny as he completed the story. He’d heard grown-ups talking about things like “hurting your feelings” and “heartbreak,” but he hadn’t anticipated how being sad could really _hurt_. “Miss Aqua?” he asked, his voice rising and shaking slightly, “You’re a girl. Do you know why girls get mad sometimes?”

Aqua laughed softly. She reached out to ruffle Sora’s spiky hair. “Oh, Sora. Girls get made for lots of different reasons, just like boys do. There’s no difference.”

“But we don’t know what we did wrong!” he wailed.

“I’m sure that she’ll tell you when she’s ready. Sometimes friends fight. I know how sad it feels when that happens. But if she’s really one of your best friends, then she probably misses you just as much as you miss her. You just have to be patient.”

“Really?” asked Sora. Riku made a “hmph” noise next to him.

“Really. How about we play that game now? It’s almost time for me to leave, and…”

Both Riku and Sora jumped to their feet. “Yeah, we need time to play twice so we can both pretend to be you!” cried Sora.


	14. On Being Left Behind

Naminé wandered up and down the cove, on the opposite side of the Children’s Island where she usually played with Sora and Riku. She hadn’t seen them at all that morning, and had spent the past several days hiding from them whenever she did.

Almost all of the pages in her sketchbook were full. She’d started working on a sandcastle, and then gave up before she could form the lump of sand into a more defined shape. She played hide and seek with her father, but he was so big that he was easy to find, unlike Sora and Riku.

She climbed up a ledge and went through a secret passage that led to the other side of the island. At first, she didn’t see anyone else there at all, much less Sora and Riku. But then she heard voices coming from the bridge and approached it slowly.

The voices belonged to some big kids. Naminé had never seen them on the Islands before. The one on the bridge dressed in black and red, with some kind of helmet on his head that prevented her from seeing more of his face. His voice sounded low and menacing. Naminé hid herself behind the shack near the bridge where he couldn’t see her. “Fine,” he was saying to someone else. “I’ll give you a reason to fight.”

 _Fight?!_ Naminé shivered. Sora and Riku fought all the time, but they just pretended. Somehow, this sounded real.

He said something about a key-blade, and a graveyard. None of it made sense to her. Then: “You’re going to see me choke the life out of Terra and Aqua. Then we’ll see how long you play the pacifist.”

 _Choking?_ Naminé whimpered. Choking was _bad._ Another big kid yelled, “WAIT!” But the first boy just vanished into thin air. Naminé frantically looked all around and couldn’t see where he’d gone. What if he was still there? What if he could see her? What if he said terrible things to her too? Her father was on the other side of the island, and Sora and Riku weren’t there to protect her with their wooden swords. She reached into her pocket to clutch her good-luck charm; the only thing left that could keep her safe.

“Huh?”

The second boy heard her crying and came around the side of the shack to investigate. He didn’t wear a helmet, but he did have armor like the stranger, Terra. Naminé backed away from him. He smiled at her and crouched down. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, “Did I scare you?”

Naminé whimpered and held her sketchbook and good-luck charm close.

“My name’s Ventus. You can call me Ven. What’s your name?”

He got the exact same response that Sora received when he first met Naminé: nothing at all. She just stared at him.

“I guess I really did scare you.” He scratched the back of his head. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just passing through.”

Naminé twisted her head all around to see as much of the island as she could. “Where’s the bad guy?” she asked.

“What bad guy? Vanitas?” Ven shook his head. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about him. He’s gone now. He won’t come back. You don’t have to hide anymore.” He beckoned to her. “It’s okay! You can come out. I’m a good guy.”

But Naminé stared at the metal armor on his shoulder and took another step back. “No!” she wailed, “You’re not a good guy! You’re Terra’s friend!”

“Huh? What do you mean?” asked a startled Ven. “Terra’s been here?”

“Yes and _I don’t like him!_ ” she sobbed.

“Why? What did he do here?” cried Ven.

Naminé bobbed on the heels of her feet and bent the edges of her sketchbook back and forth. Then she blurted out: “HE’S GONNA TAKE MY FRIEND RIKU AWAY!”

“…what?!” asked Ven, “I…what are you talking about?”

“My friend Riku talked to him and he said he wanted to go away and see other worlds and Terra promised he’d take him some day! They’re gonna go away and they won’t come back and I’ll never see Riku again! And if Riku goes away, Sora’s gonna go away too, ‘cause Sora always does what Riku does, and they’re my bestest friends in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD and I don’t want them to go! So now we can’t be friends anymore and that’s how come I don’t like Terra and I don’t like you!”

After _that_ outburst, Ven only looked more confused. “Wait…what? When did this happen? I haven’t met anyone named Riku or Sora, and I don’t think Terra would just take somebody away from their home like that.”

“He is! He said so!” insisted Naminé, “And I don’t want Riku to go! I love playing with Riku!” She opened her sketchbook and flipped to a picture she’d drawn of the three of them all building a sandcastle together. “I’ll miss Riku if he goes away!” she cried.

Ven moved a bit closer to her so that he could see the drawing better. “Wow! Did you make that all by yourself?” he asked.   She nodded. “That’s really good!”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, as she stared down at her feet. “But you’re still gonna take my friends away so I don’t like you.”

Ven coughed and his mouth curved into a smile for a brief second. “Listen,” he told her, “I don’t know what Terra meant, but I’m sure he won’t take your friends away from you.”

“He had a big sword and it was shaped like a key and he told Riku to take it and that meant he could leave and go with Terra someday!” cried Naminé.

Ven’s jaw dropped and he smacked a hand against his forehead. “Ohhhh! The Keyblade Initiation! Right. I didn’t know Terra had the power to do that.” Naminé folded her arms over her chest and glared at him, unappeased. “Okay,” he said gently, “I think I understand what’s going on. You know, my friends have left me behind too, and I always felt bad when it happened.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Terra and Aqua are much stronger than me, and they always got to go on adventures together while I had to stay at home. This is my first time seeing other worlds.”

“Oh.” Naminé lowered her head.

“But you know what?” He lowered his voice, as though about to share an important secret. Naminé came closer to hear it. “They _always_ came back. Every single time. And they’d tell me all about the things they saw, and then we’d hang out together just like we always did. We never had to stop being friends.”

“Really?” Naminé smiled a bit.

“Really.”

“But I’ll miss ‘em when they go away,” she said, staring sadly down at her feet again.

“Then why don’t you go with them?” asked Ven.

“I dunno. I like it here,” she replied.

Ven nodded. “Okay. There’s nothing wrong with that.” He thought for a moment, staring off into space at the sunny beach, the trees waving in the breeze, the ocean lapping up against the dock. His eyes fell on Naminé’s sketchbook. “Hey, I have an idea! Let’s say Terra comes back some day to take Riku and Sora on adventures with him. I’ll come too, and if you’re feeling lonely, I’ll play with you and we can draw pictures together. How does that sound?”

Naminé’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Sure! You’re a great artist- you could teach me how to draw too!”

At last, a big smile spread across her face. “Okay! Thank you, Mr. Ven!” Then her face fell. “But…you’re not Sora and Riku.”

“I know that,” he said gently, “But it’s like I told you: they’ll come back to you. And until they do, I can be your friend.”

Naminé smiled again. “Okay!” She held up her sketchbook. “Do you wanna color pictures with me right now?”

Ven shook his head. “Not today. I have to go stop that bad guy, remember?”

Naminé remembered very well, and hugged her sketchbook to her chest. “Is he gonna choke your friends?” she cried, “Choking is bad!” She informed of this fact so very seriously that he couldn’t help laughing a little.

“You’re right. That _is_ bad. But I’m not going to let that happen to my friends. You don’t have to worry about us. We’ll take care of that bad guy. And then I’ll come back and color with you. Okay?” He held out his hand. She came forward, and they hooked fingers, sealing the promise.

“Oh!” She realized something. “And my name’s Naminé.”

“Naminé,” Ven repeated, “It’s very nice to meet you!”

“It’s very nice to meet you too, Mr. Ven!” she replied.

“I’ll see you soon, okay?” He pressed the piece of metal attached to his shoulder. It transformed into an entire suit of armor that covered his whole body. Naminé backed away from him. “It’s just me,” he assured her, “I’m wearing magic armor.” Then he summoned a key-shaped sword, similar to Terra’s. He flipped it in the air, whereupon it turned into some kind of board. Ven waved to Naminé one last time, then jumped onto the board and flew away.

“BYE, MR. VEN!” she cried, waving to him.

When her father came around the island looking for her, he found her working hard on a new drawing of a big kid with spiky blonde hair and metal armor. “I made a new friend,” she explained, when he asked her about it. “His name’s Mr. Ven, and he likes my pictures and he flies through the air and fights bad guys with his sword that looks like a big key.”

“Ahhhh,” he said, “It’s a good drawing.” His daughter had such a great imagination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever since I played BBS, I've had the idea that if Naminé had really been Sora's friend, she would've shown up in that game. And if Riku had his connection to Terra, and Sora to Aqua, it would be ideal for Naminé to meet Ven. So here it is! I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> You may also be wondering how Naminé could have overheard Terra's conversation with Riku when she was with Sora the whole time. There IS an explanation, but I haven't found a way to work it into this story yet...


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